Customer Reviews

Aldous Huxley-Gravity of Light [VHS]

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I liked the film, makes me want to read the guy. Also, I liked hearing about his brush with the social revolution of the 60's. I was born in 1970 but the kids today are keeping the new age ideals alive albeit in a distanced way. They know they didn't discover it so it's like a museum piece once the hedonism is spent. There's no feeling of "This will create the utopian paradise." But Huxley invented it and discovered it. Of course, he, like the rest, believed. And learning more about him, as this film lets you do, will be using a time machine to experience the wonderful time before the revolution is "proved" useless. The trick is to take that experience into the present and discover where we haven't been proven wrong, yet. This age is so cynical, and Huxley, even at the end of his life, was not. Seeing this film brings that man to you, without having to experience just the talking head that his interviews show. The filmmaker opens up, ala Errol Morris, a world of ideas through imagery presented along with the subject. He does it very well.

This film is very hard to comprehend. If your looking for some live interviews and some interesting background into Aldous Huxley's life, this ain't for you. It does give you glimpses of interviews (all combined probably- 5 min)but it's soon interrupted with a bad combination of hard to follow commentary and dull visuals(no offense). Is not worth money.

The reason to buy this is for the archival footage of Huxley. The "documentary" itself is little more than pretentious, self-indulgent pap. If one can forgive the filmmaker's interruption of Huxley's televised dialogues--to provide a counterpoint with his own life, his own failed relationships, his own family connections to the Huxley name, etc.--one cannot forgive the blatant misunderstanding of the message of _Brave New World_ evidenced by the production values (at one point, distracting digitized images are incorporated into the archival footage as Huxley talks; at other points, the film's background music almost drowns out his speech). One scene consists of Huxley's barely audible voice coming through a cell phone on a table while ice cream cones melt on a table.

Not only is the film overlong and poorly made, its attempt to make Huxley "entertaining" is just another way of giving the public the "bread and circuses" that he warned against.

This film is unique in the fact that it contains a good deal of original interview footage (15-20 minutes) of Aldous covering many topics from social reform to hallucinogenics, however, I found the parts in which the director Oliver Hockenhull applies Huxley to his own life rather odd, and slightly demented. However, to own this video, is also to own very rare footage of Huxley. Well worth it.

As one reviewer commented 'pretentious pap' I have to agree. Viusally this film is amateurish; cement trucks, plate glass tables, melting icecreams? Plenty of ego stroking also via genealogical connections with the Huxley name, the reading of Brave New World at the age of nine and how terribly interesting and subversive his parents must have been by almost naming him Sputnik 1. There is no doubting Huxley's genius but I would rather view the interviews with the man than have snippets comtaminated with Hockenhulls half baked aesthetic - a "bread and ciruses" approach indeed.
Ollie, here's a tip, TAKE MORE ACID.
Maybe then you wont waste your time making bad, pseudo-intellectual, arty documentaries.
I'm not suprised your girlfriend got bored.

... A response regarding the comments that there is not alot of footage of Huxley in the work. Actually there's about 15 to 20 minutes of archival material of Aldous Huxley talking on a very wide range of subjects - from issues around the prophetic quality of one of his early novels - BRAVE NEW WORLD - to comments concerning the use of psychedelic drugs.
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The director researched archives from the BBC to stock houses in the U.S., Europe, and Canada - as well as contacting individuals close to Huxley. There is in fact very little archival film available of Aldous Huxley. The footage from the CBC was the most useful and covered the areas of interest of most intrigue.

It must be remembered that Huxley was not that welcomed in England immediately after the war and that he was too controversial a figure for U.S. network television in the fifties and sixties. The rampant media scape we live in - where we expect everything of note to be recorded - was not yet happening. I think it is very fortunate to have found the material and believe it does give a wonderful insight into this remarkable man.

The director received permission from Laura Huxley, widow of Aldous, to make the work and she only approved the go ahead after seeing previous films made by the same director. The style of the work is not different from his previous films and does put serious intellectual demands on the viewer.

BTW: There is also in the film/video a short clip of a quite young Huxley from a very early BBC radio broadcast - 1934 - talking on the reasons for war - from his pacifist perspective.